Yesterday we received the results of Joel’s pathology. I had hoped to be able to get on this blog & be able to tell you that it was Renal-Cell & no further action would be necessary. Unfortunately that is not the case. Yesterday we got the news that the tumor that Joel has was cancerous & it is a very rare form of cancer. Due to this our Urologist has told us that we will-most likely-have to go through chemotherapy. This is not the news we were wanting or expecting. Yesterday we were both very down after hearing this news. Joel has had an amazing recovery thus far. Life was starting to half-way return to normal. The last thing we wanted is to have to endure more. But we know God is faithful. We surely have SEEN His faithfulness to us in many ways. And we know that He is not done with us yet.In the Bible there is a story about Abraham & his son. God had told Abraham that he would be a father of many nations. Just when this dream was finally realized God asks him to sacrifice his only son. How would he be the father of many nations when the one son that he has would be sacrificed? At that moment he had to have questioned why-just like Joel & I have questioned why. When he goes to that mountain to make the sacrifice he tells the servant to wait at the bottom of the mountain and that “we will be back”. He didn’t say “I will be back” he said” we”. His faith in God’s promise to him was greater than the physical that was in front of him. Abraham fully intended to do what God asked of him. I believe that He just thought that God would protect his son regardless. Maybe he thought that after he sacrificed him that God would raise him from the dead. I don’t know what he thought. But he did believe with his entire heart that God would stay true to his promises to Him.
Joel & I have been full of questions along this journey & we in no way are to the point yet where we understand why. We are like Abraham-walking up that mountain with a heavy heart & a lot of questions. But we know that “we will be back” down that mountain together.
A friend sent me this verse yesterday that is powerful:

“Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:6

This is God’s promise to us & so this is what we believe He will do. And we have already seen Him begin the good work in Joel-we know that He will complete it.
This journey has become a little longer than we hoped & more trying than we imagined. But we will get through it strong & better.

The good news is that all the cells that they tested came back negative for spreading. It was contained just as we prayed. We are thinking the chemo will be just as a precaution. We will know more after we meet with the Urologist & then the Oncologist next week. I will definitely let you know when we know more.

Sarah Rodriguez Rhodes

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Ellis Update: Today was a hard morning, guys. We got to the hospital & things just felt all wrong. I don’t know how to explain it other than that. Then the anesthesiologist had issues with some secretions Ellis was having that we were told amplified her risk during the surgery while under anesthesia. Given the past things we’ve walked through, we just decided it wasn’t a risk we were at all willing to take. So we made the decision to go home, re-group & do the surgery another day. Since the surgery is elective we had our medical teams full support in this decision. We are home now & doing well. This wasn’t an easy decision to make. For months we’ve prepared mentally, emotionally, schedule-wise, financially etc for this day. But we have to be lead by peace. And if those giving her medical care also weren’t completely at peace, it just wasn’t the right time, for whatever reason. I don’t always understand the “why” but I won’t always & I’m ok with that. We appreciate your prayers & promise to keep you informed of when her surgery will be in the coming months. Also, the day wasn’t a complete loss...Ellis did get to hang with the cute hospital dog-so at least that part was a win ☺️ Looking for some kind of humor-it’s been a rough day.

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